Mistletoe
by toesalignedarch
Summary: AU. When Kagome suggests to her boyfriend, Inuyasha, that they take a winter vacation to New York City, he reluctantly agrees. But now that he's officially ruined it, how is he going to make it up to her?


**Mistletoe**

* * *

"Oh, ho, the mistletoe," sang Kagome as she skipped down the snowy sidewalk. Wearing her favorite coat and the scarf her best friend had given her, Kagome must've been the most festive and happiest person in New York that day. Her boyfriend, Inuyasha, trailed behind her, much less happy and _definitely_ not as festive.

"Will you stop singing that?" he complained. "It's getting annoying."

Kagome stopped skipping and whirled around to face the silver haired man.

"Are you saying that _I'm_ annoying?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

"Yes," Inuyasha said with a grin. He walked to her and kissed the pout that had formed on her lips.

"I'm only kidding," he whispered in her ear.

She grinned back at him and kissed his nose. "You better be."

Hand in hand (rather, more like one hand dragging the other) the couple walked down the streets of New York City. It had always been a dream of Kagome's to visit New York City during the winter. She loved everything to do with the winter: snow, hot chocolate, warm scarves, and (best of all, in Kagome's opinion) Christmas. What Kagome wouldn't do for candy canes and presents and Christmas trees.

Of course, when Kagome had mentioned the idea to Inuyasha, he had flat out rejected the notion without a single moment of hesitation.

"Why would you want to go somewhere cold?" he had said.

"Because I want to!" Kagome had replied.

"But it's cold!"

"It'll be so fun," Kagome had argued back. "There will be snow and we can make snowmen and eat candy canes and drink hot chocolate and it'll be amazing!"

"Keh, you're weird, wench," Inuyasha had muttered, and at that moment, Kagome knew she had won.

Thus, they took a vacation to New York City.

"Oh, Inuyasha, look! The Rockefeller Center! And that's the tree— whoa it's huge— and oh my gosh, can we go ice skating? I want white skates! Will you take pictures of me? Thanks!"

Without waiting for a response, the raven haired girl sprinted through the crowd and disappeared amid the coats and hats. Inuyasha, exasperated, followed her reluctantly, rudely elbowing people out of the way to keep Kagome in sight. By the time he caught up, he was out of breath from being pushed around so much.

"People here are so rude. What the fuck," he grumbled.

"They're only rude if you elbow them in the neck," Kagome pointed out, glancing behind Inuyasha to make sure the old man, who was sitting on the ground and rubbing his neck, was okay.

"That's their fault for being in the way."

"Inuyasha… I have no words for you."

"Keh."

Together, they watched the people below skate under the big Christmas tree. Inuyasha was particularly amused by a man who looked a lot like his least favorite colleague, Kouga; he slipped and slid everywhere on the ice like an idiot. At one point, the man even pulled down another man trying to stand up on the ice. Attempting and failing to stifle his laughter, Inuyasha nearly missed Kagome as she slipped off somewhere else.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I want to skate! I'm going to go stand in line. Come on!"

"But I was having fun up here!"

"Well, I want to have fun too!"

"Why isn't staring at people falling fun? It's fun to me!" Inuyasha crossed his arms across his chest and gave a glare, though the intimidating effects were lessened by the dancing snowman scarf Kagome had forced him to wear.

"But I want to _skate_!" Kagome insisted. "It says on the tour guide that if you can, you should skate there!"

"No. I won't."

"Fine! I'll go by myself!"

"I am not going to let you go in there by yourself," Inuyasha exclaimed. "Who knows what's going on in there?"

"Then let me go! And come with me!"

"No! I don't want to skate. Why is that fun? How is sliding on frozen water considered _fun_?"

"Because it is! Just because you don't understand what it is doesn't mean it's stupid! If that were the case, everything would be stupid!" Kagome shouted at him, frustrated.

Inuyasha blinked. Kagome waited. Inuyasha blinked. Kagome waited some more. Inuyasha blinked again. Kagome waited. Inuyasha blinked, and—

"Hey! Did you just insult me?" Inuyasha yelled indignantly.

But Kagome merely gave him an angelic smile and disappeared in the crowd again.

 _Annoying wench_ , Inuyasha thought affectionately, and trailed after her again.

Following a particularly loud argument on (again) skating, Kagome finally agreed to skip the long line and go visit a coffee shop instead. Walking along the sidewalk, Kagome felt exhilarated. Finally. _Finally_ she got to visit New York City during the winter. She had read stories, seen pictures, heard gossip about how beautiful New York was in the winter; they had all been right.

All the tall buildings were coated with a fine dusting of white snow. Each dark colored window sill proudly jutted out against the white. Every now and then, one brave flower struggled to live in the harsh weather. Windows were decorated with lights; stores put up their red and green décor, and there was the wonderful smell of peppermint in the air everywhere they went. _Nothing_ , Kagome marveled to herself, _can beat this_.

Surprisingly (or not), Inuyasha disagreed.

"Watch where you're going," he snarled at a little kid running by with a candy cane in each hand.

"Cover your mouth," he spat at an older woman who had sneezed.

"This place stinks," he complained to Kagome as they passed yet another store selling Christmas candles and pastries.

"I want to go home," he whined when he saw someone wearing a "I LOVE JAPAN" scarf.

"This is so boring!"

"I'm hungry!"

"This tastes gross!"

"What the hell is this stuff?"

"Oh, I want some of that — Ew! It tastes nothing like what it looks like."

"Kagome, can we go home now?"

"Kagome, I want to go home."

"Kagome, I—"

"INUYASHA, WILL YOU SHUT UP?"

* * *

By the end of the day, Kagome was wet, grumpy, and cold.

They hadn't accomplished much at all, thanks to Inuyasha's constant complaining. Even the merry holiday spirit Kagome once thought to be unconquerable, had been shattered. Kagome attempted to dust more of the snow on her jacket off, but the movement only sent more snow _into_ her jacket. Inuyasha, the ever wonderful, caring, and tactful boyfriend that he was, had decided to wage a snowball fight against Kagome. She had no chance. Then again, who _would_ have a chance against 20 pounds of fresh snow dumped directly into your jacket?

"This was a stupid idea," she grumbled, kicking at a lump of discolored snow.

"That's what I've been telling you ever since we got here," exclaimed Inuyasha who, for some reason, was looking much happier now that they were finally going home.

"All I wanted was a nice vacation," Kagome moaned. "And now I'm wet and tired and this was the worst decision ever."

"Don't forget grumpy," Inuyasha reminded her with a bright smile. "You're also grumpy!"

"Thanks."

"Any time!"

But as they continued walking back to the train station, Inuyasha's happy mood was slowly eroded by Kagome's uncharacteristic pessimism.

 _Did I ruin her vacation?_

 _Probably,_ he told himself. _You were a pretty bad companion._

 _But I was just being honest!_

 _Eh, more like all you did was complain._

…

 _Fuck._

Inuyasha watched Kagome angrily kick another pile of snow. He felt a little guilty (okay, a _lot_ guilty) for ruining a trip he knew she had been looking forward to for so long. Before, he couldn't stand all her ridiculous Christmas cheer and good spirits, but looking at her now, he'd do anything to make her happy again.

Kagome stumbled over a fire hydrant hidden beneath a white blanket and cursed.

 _I have to make it up to her._

 _How? It's not like you can take back all the complaining, and not complaining now is already too late_ , he pointed out to himself.

 _What does Kagome like_ , Inuyasha mused. He raised his eyes to the heavens and prayed for someone to give him an idea. As he was lowering his head back down, his eyes caught on something hanging from the sign of a cookie store.

"Wait, Kagome!"

"What do you want now?" she asked, sounding utterly exhausted.

"How do you sing the ho song again?"

"I'm sorry, the _what_ song?"

"The ho song?"

"Inuyasha," Kagome said, taking a deep breath. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Um, oh, ho, the mistletoe?"

"Hung where you can see," Kagome automatically added, her voice somewhat less emotionless than before. A trace of a smile formed on her lips.

"Somebody waits for you," Inuyasha said, stepping closer to her.

"Kiss her once for me," Kagome said, and her voice was almost back to its happy state.

"Gladly," Inuyasha muttered, and wrapped his arms around her.

Once they broke apart, Kagome flashed a baffled smile at Inuyasha. His heart skipped a beat; he was happy that _she_ was happy. That's all that really mattered to him, he realized.

"I thought you didn't like that song," she teased, tweaking his nose playfully.

"I don't. I was doing it for you," Inuyasha admitted with a bashful smile, pointing to something hanging above their heads.

Kagome looked up. Swaying gently in the bitter cold breeze, was a mess of green leaves tied together with a bright red ribbon.

"Oh, you clever dog," Kagome said with an understanding smile. "Come here, you."

And she pressed her lips to his again.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it :)**


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